


In the Light

by SpaceTravels



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Humor, made up planet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 01:19:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12332595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceTravels/pseuds/SpaceTravels
Summary: A wave of anger rose in her throat - this man was never short for words and now he could only nod?  “Well, are you going to bloody say anything?  We haven't heard from each other in nearly a year and you've suddenly gone mute?”A small chuckle and dancing eyes. “Well, I see you are feeling just fine. Your temper is just as I remember,” he said, grinning, as he braced his fingers against each other repeatedly.“And you are just as much of an arrogant moof-milker as before!” she retorted. Now he threw his head back and laughed heartily. It was something Rey was so unaccustomed to hearing that she could only look on with widened eyes.********They had fought together and won, and brought down Snoke and the First Order.  But what does it mean for them, once it is all said and done?





	In the Light

**Author's Note:**

> I am struggling with writer's block on my main fic, so here goes another ficlet that incorporates the new trailer in subtle ways. I hope you enjoy. Oh, and no apologies for making up a planetI I just needed to create a place to put our two lovebirds. ;-))))

     For days Rey walked about with a blunt headache - not incapacitating by any means, because she still explored the planet surface with curiosity and zest - but enough that she certainly could not ignore it. As she rubbed the space between her eyebrows for the hundredth time that day, she wondered what it was that troubled her. The headache left her with the sensation of a mind over-exerting itself to remember something.  But what it was, she did not know. She went to rub the spot again, before a tingle down her spine suddenly yanked her out of her thoughts.

      _Someone is following me_ , she thought, her eyes scanning the low-rise buildings around her quickly. Her clothes had allowed her to blend in with her surroundings - the people of Asklepos favoured long swathes of colourful fabric wrapped around their bodies artfully, leaving shoulders and arms exposed. So, Rey had found a bolt of fabric in a luxuriously soft and rich emerald green, and styled it on herself in a similar manner to her old scavenger’s gear.  She wore a dark brown leather sash with a few of her utility items tucked away at her waist, and her lightsaber was concealed under the flowing fabric of her skirt. Luckily, the people of this place also favoured wearing either many bracelets, or arm bands, much like those she had worn her entire life, so she had donned a set in a soft grey embroidered with silver and turquoise patterns.  They were the prettiest arm bands she had ever seen.

      _There is no reason for my paranoia.  Who would have followed me here?,_  she muttered to herself before continuing on to the market area. She moved between the stalls and tables, casually glancing at the wares for sale. The people of Askelpos were extraordinary artisans, and she couldn’t help but to stop and caress the plethora of exquisite items made so lovingly by hand.

 _In another life, if I weren’t a Jedi_ , she thought to herself longingly, picturing yet again a sun-filled workshop where she would craft things with her own hands. _Jedi, indeed_. She wasn’t sure that is what she was, but there was no other word she knew to describe what she had become. Her mind moved unrelentingly towards the day she had harnessed the Force, much to the astonishment of Luke and Kylo Ren, and had destroyed Snoke.  Her mind often replayed that day to her in flashes -  Luke’s robotic hand brandishing Anakin’s lightsaber, with his green one in the other; Kylo Ren’s gloved hand reaching for his own cross guard against the blood red light of their surroundings, and then both Skywalker men fighting valiantly to hold off the merciless Supreme Leader.  Rey had seen the expressions on their faces - so much alike that it had to be a Skywalker trait - range from terror when first they thought she might turn the Force energy on them, and to relief and astonishment as she gathered whatever Snoke threw at her in her awaiting palms as if rolling up an undulating ball of the most magnificent kind, and then launching it back at him. Rey was not sure she could ever replicate what she did that day.  Something that had welled up inside of her from a deeply instinctual, primitive place. It was not something one could learn. It just was. It had told her to survive. It had urged her to save those she truly loved.

      “The stones in this necklace are said to bring love and belonging to whomever touches them.  It is the stone of the family,” was the melodious voice that interrupted Rey’s thoughts.

     “Sorry, wh-what?” she asked, realising she had stood stroking a stunning hazel stoned necklace in silence for a long time. Her hand went instinctively to touch another necklace - one given to her by someone dear, and which remained hidden beneath her green robes.

     “You are missing your family, your friends. What brings you here to this corner of the galaxy?  Alone?”

      Rey nearly startled when she looked into the diminutive older lady’s face with eyes so pale they were nearly transparent. The face that came with the eyes was otherwise non-descript and definitely human, though extraordinarily kind. And while the tanned complexion was smooth and unlined, Rey could not escape the feeling that she was in the presence of a wizened old lady.

     “Holidays. I have been so busy for so long that I...I just needed a break,” Rey stammered, feeling oddly bare before the knowing eyes. Leia had told her about this planet once, and for whatever reason, it had beckoned to her for months now.  Although she had never seen a picture of it, she had seen it uncannily in her mind.

     A smile spread across the woman’s face. “Ah, well then, you have come to the right place. Not far from here is the water. Our waters are known for their healing qualities, and also for their spectacular shows at night. You have only to be near them. You must not miss it.”

      “Healing?” Rey asked.

      The lady nodded. “Your head troubles you, does it not?” she asked.

     Rey was about to answer but felt that tingle again, causing her eyes to dart around quickly. As hard as she tried, she could not shake the sensation of being watched.

     “You’ll have to excuse me,” she said, hastily stepping away from the table.

      The lady gave a small smile. “Yes, dear. Do not forget the waters. Run along now,” she said, before Rey turned and began walking rapidly through the passages between stalls. Her heart was pounding rapidly in her chest as she turned down colourful alleys strung with the stunning local flowers and carvings of all sorts. She didn’t know where she was going, but only vaguely that she needed to move in the general direction that she was going. Turning quickly down to the right, Rey ran straight into a solid body and the last thing she remembered was her world spinning around her before being caught up into a pair of strong arms.

 

**********

 

      Rey awoke slowly, her disoriented mind only registering the most fleeting of sensations. Wherever she was it was bright, very bright, with wide windows looking out onto blinding reflections from turquoise water. She breathed in deeply the scent of sea, something she had missed from her time on Ahch-to. Here it wasn’t so sharp and salty, but carried a sweetness to it. But it was the sea, nonetheless, and it filled her with such a feeling of being at home.  She sighed softly and turned her head to the side, realising that she was nestled on a sumptuously soft, white pillow, and as her vision came into focus, she realised that in fact, the entire room was white.  White walls, white furnishings, and textiles filled the light-filled space. The only splash of colour was a vase full of the local flowers which played like a riot of colours against the purity of their surroundings.

      _Am I even alive?_ she asked herself, trying to come to terms with this ethereal place and how she had come to be there.

      _“Very much so,”_ said a deep and familiar voice, a trace of amusement in the tone. Rey drew in a sharp breath as she turned her head to the other side to find the owner of _that voice_ relaxing in a white arm chair.  He was dressed in a loose grey tunic and navy blue trousers, looking more casual than she had ever seen, and yet even more handsome than she remembered.  His hair was longer than she recalled and it fell around his face in dark, shining waves.  He looked well - better than she had ever seen him, in fact.  Rey felt her heart begin to dance around her chest.  He still had an effect on her, even after all this time, and even though they hadn’t been able to reach each other through their bond in so long.

     “Ben!” she croaked, sitting up and pushing herself up against the white wooden headboard. He motioned to a glass of water on the nightstand beside her, which she drained gratefully.  “You live here?”

     A small incline of his head as his eyes seemed to travel over her, registering every detail of her green dress. When finally his eyes returned to meet hers, she was surprised by the depth of feeling shown there.

     Rey swallowed with difficulty. “It’s beautiful.” Again, a nod.

     A wave of anger rose in her throat - this man was never short for words and now he could only nod?  “Well, are you going to bloody say anything?  We haven't heard from each other in nearly a year and you've suddenly gone mute?”

     A small chuckle and dancing eyes. “Well, I see you are feeling just fine. Your temper is just as I remember,” he said, grinning, as he braced his fingers against each other repeatedly.

     “And you are just as much of an arrogant moof-milker as before!” she retorted. Now he threw his head back and laughed heartily. It was something Rey was so unaccustomed to hearing that she could only look on with widened eyes. Her gaze lingered on his handsome face, and how his laughter lit up all his features. It was as if her heart had always known _this man_ seated before her now, though she had only ever seen _him_ in the rarest of instances despite their now long acquaintance. When his laughter finally subsided, Ben tilted his head sideways in an assessing glance.

     Rey opened her mouth to say something when she heard a series of pitter patters approaching the bedroom door. To her amazement, two large porgs and five smaller ones following in single file came sauntering into the room with their silly walk-hop. Rey’s eyebrow rose as she turned to look back towards Ben Solo.

     He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head, his features taking on a chagrined expression. “Uh, yeah, well, Huxi and Phazi…they had babies. Their mating season was nearly unbearable. All the sounds, and the pining, it was atrocious.”  

     The small grin that had played upon Rey’s lips spread into a much larger one. “Huxi and Phazi?”

     Ben nodded. “I went back to Ahch-to for a few days and these two stowed away on my ship. They were so…irritating, that I was tempted to dump them off at a space port, but they just wouldn’t leave. And so they have been the bane of my existence since then. So I named them Huxi and Phazi, in honour of just how much they grate on my nerves..”

     Rey could not hide her amusement as she turned to look at the seven pairs of soulful eyes staring up at her. “Well, you certainly don’t deserve to be named after such horrid people,” she said, before scooting down the bed, and placing her feet upon the warm wooden floor. She closed her eyes for a moment, absorbing the sensation of being in such a peaceful place, and feeling that familiar vibration in the Force she had missed for nearly one year, before kneeling to pet each of the porgs one by one. She gave them each a good scratch under the feathers at the back of their heads and listened as they trilled with pleasure. Ben rose slowly from his chair, and Rey felt, rather than saw him approach.  She took her time with the porgs, feeling a lump form in her throat, as she tried to gather the courage to face Ben. There was so much between them, so much never spoken, from that moment now so long ago when she had first accepted his outstretched hand. And yet that something was undeniably there, as it always was, reverberating within the confines of the room. The air, the Force, everything, crackled around them.

     Rey finally rose slowly, turning fully towards him, so they stood just about one foot apart. She raised her chin. Ben was chewing his lip, seeming uncharacteristically uncertain of himself.  Rey tried to avoid staring at his full mouth for too long.

     “So, you've kidnapped me…again.” she said, softly, breaking the silence finally. He bowed his head, a slight flush rising to his less pale complexion.

     “I was afraid,” he spoke, his voice deep and gravelly.

     Rey gave him a puzzled look. His shoulders sagged a bit as he ran his hands through his thick waves in that nervous way of his that Rey found endearing.

     “All of this time, I couldn’t sense you. Only more recently, I could feel the start of something again. I had no idea where you were, but I concentrated on letting you know where I was. I thought that if you would figure it out, maybe you would come, when you were ready. But I couldn’t know for certain.  When I saw you today, I panicked,"  he said, his voice becoming feeble and sheepish at the end.  

     Rey’s lip trembled a bit as she looked up at him. “Luke said that when I destroyed Snoke, it must have impacted the connection we had as it tore out a part of you, too. I never expected for you to be _so gone_ when I woke up.”

     “That makes two of us. I didn’t expect to be gone either when I awoke. My mother had arranged everything, for your and mine safety, until everything settled down. The galaxy is understandably wary of force-users, but she was confident that given some time, we will be welcome again.   She left me a long holo-vid explaining everything. But I guess that what she didn’t know was that our connection would be broken, and we wouldn't know how to find each other” he said, his voice becoming thicker as he spoke.

     Rey’s trembling lip now gave way to an onslaught of tears. “She’s gone,” she whispered, stepping forward. Ben nodded silently as he wrapped Rey into his arms, holding her tightly against his frame which began to shake with his own quiet sobs.  Rey rested her head against the warmth of his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart as her arms wound their way around his waist.  Together, they stood holding each other like this for what felt like an eternity, bathed in the light, as the sorrow for all of their losses flood out of them and intermingled.

     It was eventually only a series of squeaks and pips that broke their embrace. Rey looked over curiously to find the family of porgs lined up on the edge of the bed, looking at the embracing humans expectantly.

     “They’re concerned?” she asked, clearing her throat, a bit embarrassed by the intensity that had flared between them.

      “Hardly.  They’re hungry,” Ben said dryly, as he cleared his throat in kind, and stepped slightly. “And their timing is just as exquisite as usual,” his gaze turning to the row of birds with an annoyed look.  “Follow me, you good-for-nothing, feather-brained -“

     “Ben! They understand what you are saying!”

     “And so what? They have been nothing but trouble,” he grumbled as he led them into the corridor which led to an equally as white open space that housed both the kitchen and living room.

     Rey watched as he dutifully prepared seven small bowls of food of dried insects and worms, and laid them on the white floor, and clucked at the impatient small ones.  The entire galaxy would not believe the terror known as Kylo Ren was the same man serving a family of porgs.  She shook her head in amusement, before she took in the rest of the beach house. It really was entirely white, with broad windows that allowed the sun to stream in. It’s size was modest and comfortable, made and decorated in almost entirely natural materials.  The house, as far as she could see, was set way off from any others.

     “You really do do things in extremes don’t you?” she asked, thinking of the contrast to the black and metal that had surrounded every part of his life before. He didn’t need to ask what she was referring to - their connection was flowing stronger with every passing moment like a dam breached by flowing waters.

     Ben breathed deeply, following her eyes out to the sea. “My mom, she left this place for me,” a long pause, “I needed this,” he said simply, his tone was sincere and unapologetic.

     Rey nodded, now watching him carefully, and feeling so inexplicably drawn towards him that she had to will herself to stay put. There was still much to understand and work out between them. He was still so much of the man she knew before, but also, changed. It was if peace and acceptance had crept into his essence and had laid their roots there. Her gaze dragged away from him again to admire the sparkling turquoise sea longingly.

     Ben turned to look at her. “Would you like to go the waters?  They are unlike anything I have ever experienced before. They’re -“

     “- healing. So I was told,” Rey finished his thought, her eyebrows drawing together as she noticed something. Her headache was gone for the first time in months. “I would love to go swimming but not just yet.  I want to know something...did you already know about this place?” 

     Ben shook his head. “My mother. In her holo-vid, she told me about it. She said it was a place she and my dad discovered before I was born. They always intended to bring me here, but she regretted…that they never found the time,’ he spoke, his face fleetingly taking on that melancholic look she had come to know, before becoming calmer and gentler. “They loved me,” he said, a statement he spoke laced with his own regret.

     Rey bit her lip, stepping a bit closer again. “Yes, Ben.  They really did. So, so much,” she said softly. She pulled her necklace out from under her green robes and pulled it up over head. “Before I forget,” Rey reached her hand out, letting the necklace dangle freely with Leia’s ring at the end of it. Ben looked at the necklace and back up to Rey’s face before taking it gently from her. He held it up, examining it, the chain looking ridiculously delicate in his large hands.

     “She gave it me the last day I saw her alive. She told me that she hoped that I would be able to pass it along to you, to Ben Solo, one day, when all was said and done. It was like she knew she wouldn’t be here any longer and she was at peace with it. The General told me once that she never felt like a princess because she had worked her ass off every single day of her life, and that she had fought and lost, and fought and won, over and over again. What kept her going during these last years was the thought that she would fight for you. To bring you back home where you belong, and that in this, she would succeed. She had to, regardless of where else she had failed. And no matter if it was the last thing she would ever do. She never gave up on you, Ben. Never,” Rey said, her voice uneven as tears swam in her eyes again.

     Ben’s face became unfathomable as he processed her words while contemplating the heirloom piece. Finally he reached out and took Rey’s hand, turning it over, before pouring the necklace softly into her outstretched palm. “This is yours now, Rey.”

     Rey’s hazel eyes searched his face for meaning, wondering if her words had somehow crossed a line with him. “But she wants you to have it. It’s supposed to stay in your family.”

     “It is, Rey. It will.” he said softly, as his hand came up to gently cup her cheek, his eyes shining with tenderness.  

     “What do you mean?” Rey asked, her voice trembling as she leaned into his calloused fingers ever so slightly.  Her entire body hummed at this slightest of touches.

      “Do you know want to know what Le-, my mother, said to me in her holo-vid?”  

      Rey nodded. Ben became pensive, as if gathering his thoughts. When he began, his voice was gentle and controlled.

     “She said that when I was about ten years old, she had such a vivid dream one night that she couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t a vision. All around me was darkness, like clouds rolling in with a storm. But suddenly there came a light, one that burned so bright that it chased away the darkness. She was so fascinated by that light that she couldn’t tear her eyes away. When finally she looked at me again, she saw me as a grown man, with a scar across my face,” Ben’s finger ran along the now well-healed scar. “At first she was terrified because she saw me as a knight of darkness, but when she looked in my eyes, she saw that same light, the one that had burned away all that darkness in her dream. All that time later, when she finally met you, she felt as if she already knew you. It was because she recognised you as that light, and she understood…,” his voice trailed off, as his hand now moved to gently stroke some hair out of her face. Rey trembled beneath his touch.

     “Understood what?” she asked, barely breathing.

     “She understood what you would come to mean to me,” he said, his eyes searching her face. “I love you, Rey. You are the light to my darkness. I am forever indebted to you. No one has ever done what you did for me. You stood with me like no one else had ever done before, even at such a great cost to yourself.  When I realised I could no longer reach you, all I could think about was getting the opportunity to talk to you again.  We never had the time...I needed you to know that no matter what choices you make in your life, Rey, you will always have me. You have only to ask. I know you have waited for a family your entire life, and I know I can never replace them, but you have my promise that I will always be here for you. _I will always come back for you_ , for as long as it is in my power to do so,” Ben said, a resolved edge to his voice, as he lowered himself to his knees. “I have never seen anything as beautiful as you,” he took both of her hands in his, brushing each set of knuckles with his lips in turn.

     Rey stood in stunned silence, digesting his words as her pulse began hammering wildly in her ears. The man who knelt before her certainly did things in leaps and bounds, never in small steps. She closed her eyes a moment, absorbing again, the feeling around the two of them, as if they were the only two beings in the entire galaxy. “Are- are you proposing to me?” she asked incredulously as she looked down at Ben’s open and hopeful face. She licked her lips and took the bottom one between her teeth, not noticing how his eyes trailed her movement.

     He cleared his throat. “I am whatever you want me to be to you.”

     Rey drew in a sharp breath before a shuttered look came down across her face, tears welling in her eyes.  “Ben, you have served someone your entire your life. I don't want duty, I don't want obligation.  That isn’t what I want from you,” she said, shaking her head and turning away. Her heart screamed with the loss of contact, with the idea that she was turning away from someone who had offered himself entirely to her. To be hers to do with as she pleased.  But she had freed him from a lifetime of servitude when she killed Snoke.  

     “What do you want from me, then?” he asked quietly, looking crestfallen, while his voice took on a desperate edge.

      “What do _you want_ , Ben Solo?” she shouted back at him, the words bursting out of her suddenly.   “ _You_ , what is it that _you_ want to do?”

       The man standing there went from looking like a wounded puppy to throwing his hands up in exasperation in a matter of moments.  When his hands returned to his sides, they clenched and unclenched repeatedly as he breathed deeply through his nose.  “Come here!” he said suddenly through gritted teeth, grabbing her by the arm to follow him. He dragged her across the living quarters to a doorway off to the side and threw open the door, gently pushing her inside.

     Rey clapped her hands over his mouth as she looked around her with instant recognition - it was a sun-filled workshop, exactly as the one she had imagined herself so many times. She closed her eyes for a moment, soaking it all in along with the Force signature that vibrated so closely behind her. She turned and dared to look up at Ben, who towered above her, nostrils flaring and looking as much like Kylo Ren as Ben Solo at that moment.

     “Sometimes I wonder how someone as smart as you can also be so….so…I don’t even know what to call it!” he said angrily.  “I told you I loved you. I offered you everything I have to give. What can you not understand about that? I want _you_ , Rey. I want you everyday, every night, by my side,” he was in full ranting mode now, though his voice hitched slightly with the word night.

     Ben’s tirade of love was only stopped by Rey’s lips pressed hastily against his, interrupting whatever else it was he had to say. A small sound of surprise escaped his throat as his eyes widened. Rey grinned, breaking their contact only to pepper his face with kisses before he quickly reclaimed her lips again. He kissed her like a starving man, wrapping her in his embrace and pushing her back against the long white workbench until her bottom was pressed firmly against it. And still he kissed her, hands running greedily through her hair and along her back, bringing out goosebumps in the process.  Ben lifted her easily to sit her on the table, making space for himself between her legs.  Only then did his lips reluctantly leave her’s so they could both catch their breath, though his mouth continued to move along her jaw to her neck where he nipped and sucked gently at the flesh there. Rey finally did what she had longed to do for so long, lacing her fingers through the silky dark locks that fell across her face.

     “Ben,” she panted, feeling her body humming uncontrollably from his attentions while she moved to give him more access to her neck. Ben pushed the fabric on her shoulders aside to explore the curve of her shoulder while Rey struggled to form a coherent thought.

     “Ben!” she managed a bit louder, though equally as breathless. She hadn’t even realised that her hips were moving rather shamelessly against his, as her body was awash in sensation.

     “Hmmmn?” he asked with half-hooded eyes, as he raised his head to look at her.

     “It’s just that …I love you, too,” she whispered. She saw a small smirk form on his lips as the deep liquid pools that were his eyes brightened.

      “Say it again.”

      “I love you.”

      “Again.”

      “I love you, Ben Solo,” she said before he took her lips again, this time his tongue moving against hers. He eased her to lay back on the table, before his hands slowly moved down along her legs to carefully remove her boots. He paused as he came into contact with her concealed lightsaber. A smirk again, and a small bemused shake of his head.  Rey shrugged unapologetically - her lightsaber was a part of her.  

     “I love you,” he said in a wondrous tone, as he removed the weapon and its holster, dropping them to the ground, before his hands returned to roam over her.  Rey’s body arched beneath him as his mouth slid over her still clothed torso. Moaning softly, she tilted her head further back as her eyes fluttered open. She startled when she discovered seven sets of eyes lined up on the table behind her.

     “Ah, Ben,” she whispered, trying desperately to concentrate as his hands found her hot skin beneath the top of her dress. She moaned softly at the brush of his calloused fingers against her sensitive flesh as she squirmed with pleasure.

     “Stay still, will you?’ he teased, as he pushed fabric away to expose her to his hungry gaze. Rey hastily grabbed at it, pulling it back over her bared skin. She saw disappointment and hurt flash across his face, though he stopped immediately.

     “Too much?” he asked huskily.

     Rey shook her head, and motioned her head in the direction behind her. “No, it's uh...the porgs.”

     He froze before slowly raising his head to find all sets of eyes firmly fixed on him.  Ben began a stream of curses worthy of a smuggler’s son. “What could you possibly want now?” he asked through gritted teeth. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

     A series of pips, squeaks and trills led to a thoroughly annoyed smirk. “Well, it would be right now if you would kindly just leave us alone,” he said in a sarcastic tone.

     Rey propped herself up, looking between Ben and the birds. “You really understand them? What did they say?”

     “They asked when human mating season is,” he grumbled. “I told you they are nothing but a bantha-sized pain in the you-know-what. Remind me to ask Luke for one of those zapper stick things.”

     “Ben Solo!” Rey exclaimed as the porgs let out a raucous chorus of protesting twitters.

     “Fine…no zapper then,” he said, before a mischievous glint came into his eyes. Ben waved his hand in their direction, followed by the motion of a small push. The porgs fell over backward like dominos, feet over heads, tumbling over the edge of table with a series of solid thunks - seven to be exact.

     Rey gasped, and he shrugged as he grinned down at her. “Ah, don't worry.  They’ll be just fine. It’s time for their nap anyways. A good, long one at that," he said, before leaning down to kiss her again.  “Now, where were we?” he asked before suddenly scooping Rey up into his arms and carrying her off to the bedroom.  

     "Again, Ben?  Well, at least I'm awake this time," she said, giggling as he kicked the door wide open. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I lay my hat out before you...please fill it with kudos and comments. Thank you!


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